BRATTLEBORO — After weeks of public discord, local leaders and social justice advocates have agreed to work together to draft a proposal on how to study policing and community safety.
“It feels like we’re getting somewhere,” town Selectboard Chairman Tim Wessel said during a five-hour online meeting that featured as many moments of contention as those of consensus.
This southeastern Vermont hub has responded to Black Lives Matter protests by wrestling with how to review its police department in a way that’s fair to people who believe it should be defunded and others who want protection in a town where opioid-overdose deaths top state tallies and racial justice events have drawn verbally abusive opponents now facing charges of hate-motivated disorderly conduct.
“I feel we need to do our best to reject the polarization that has infected the rest of our country and move forward with our discussion here,” Wessel began an online meeting Tuesday attended by more than 80 people. “I want this to be a safe space, not only for those who serve our community, but for those who have been marginalized.”
More than a dozen social justice groups seeking to create a citizens study committee offered their own olive branch.
“We’d love to join forces,” community organizer Alex Fischer told the Selectboard. “We do not want it to be in an us versus situation.”
The groups don’t view a study as simple as reviewing law enforcement.
“This is bigger than the police,” Fischer said. “This is about acknowledging that so many in our community do not feel safe, and that it’s not the police force job to create safety for everyone alone. That is the job of the community as a whole.”
Local leaders and social justice advocates agreed on forming a committee that would feature a professional facilitator and participants paid for their time.
“It’s going to be a lot of hard work,” Selectman Daniel Quipp said, “and from what I’ve seen, folks are ready to do this. I really believe strongly that the board and community can work together to do something quite transformative.”
After two hours of discussion, all involved expressed cautious optimism, only to witness everything seemingly unravel. First an older white man said he didn’t feel safe to question a plan he felt still needed work. Then a younger black woman called out leaders for participating in a “white supremacist racist system.” That led to nearly three more hours of emotional debate.
The Selectboard, struggling to approve a motion that all could agree on, finally turned to an online suggestion that members ask the social justice groups to revise their proposal based on discussion and present it for formal approval at a special session.
The board voted unanimously to do that and will meet again Aug. 6.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Brattleboro reaches common ground on police review .